Chapter Twelve

I haven't felt my heart beat in over a thousand years but I felt it being ripped from my chest. I listened to my wife as she explained everything she knew. I listened in horror and disbelief. I had anticipated a difficult discussion but I had not anticipated the end of everything. To hell with this world! It could end, what did I care? But she, my love, could NOT DIE! I would not allow it. I promised myself in that moment that I would do whatever I had to. She had saved me over and over again. She had saved others too. I would save her.

If I had to move mountains I would do it. If I had to cross desserts or drain the oceans I would do it. I would kill every person on the planet if I had to. It wouldn't matter if she were still alive, the world would still exist.

I could feel her terror at the thought of leaving me. My brave Sookie wasn't afraid of dying. She would do it if she had to but she was being pulled apart at the thought of leaving me. I suddenly understood why she had been so weak and clingy of late. Her instincts, her perfect instincts, had foreseen this tragedy and she had been rebelling. I clung to her with every fibre of strength my millennia of life had given me and I wept for her. I wept at the trials she had been forced through.

It had never been a fair world. There were always those whom life seemed to bless and demand nothing of and those that were not so fortunate. Never before had life been such an unjust sham. I wept for her sorrow and pain. I wept for her fear. I wept at the idea we could be parted. I wept but I knew I would save her. I had to.

Once she was asleep I began my work. I took off in the night and found a small chapel. It was deserted, of course, and I forced my way inside. It was only a simple building but it was a house of faith and worship so it would have to do. I walked to the modest alter and pulled out the knife I had collected on my way. I made the cut deep in my arm and with my blood I drew the symbol of the gods.

"Gods I am you servant. Gods I need your help. Appear before me and answer my plea," I cried to the night.

"Gods I am you servant. Gods I need your help. Appear before me and answer my plea." Nothing happened and as I completed the design I placed the knife down and got to my knees.

"Gods I am you servant. Gods I need your help. Appear before me and answer my plea," I called my voice growing more and more desperate.

"GODS I AM YOU SERVANT. GODS I NEED YOUR HELP. APPEAR BEFORE ME AND ANSER MY PLEA!!!" I screamed at the top of my non-breathing lungs.

"You shouldn't have called," said the god of gods. "Get up and face me Viking. She deemed you worthy so you must not kneel before me." I stood and turned to look in the eye of Odin. He was wearing a forlorn expression but I refused to be beaten so soon.

"Is it really the end?"

"It could be but it all depends how you look at it."

"IS IT THE END OF THE WORLD?" I yelled. I didn't have the time for his riddles tonight. I needed answers.

"Do not speak to me like that child. It is not your place to question. It may be the end of everything. If it comes, the apocalypse will destroy every realm not just this one. One realm cannot survive without the others, however much they try to function separately." He didn't sound upset about that but rather resigned.

"Will she die?"

"I don't know. It's her choice. It's all her choice."

"Help her. You have to help her and stop it." I was commanding him. He looked at me with disgust.

"NO." He waved his hand and my bloody arm was healed. I guessed that my little tribute was gone too.

"You can't just leave!" I pleaded I could feel despair setting in as my biggest hope was dying before me. "You have to help her. You swore to serve her. You have to help her stop it." I dropped to one knee.

"We swore to serve her and we shall but we cannot stop it. It is her and only her. She has the power we do not and if she uses it...it's all her choice. We are not going to come again unless she calls so do not bother. What will be, will be." He placed a hand on my shoulder and then was gone.

I was overpowered by emotion. Anger, fear, despair, sorrow, grief, loss, doom, frustration and determination. I didn't know what to do. My mind raced as I moved the pieces around in my mind trying to find another strategy. I couldn't get the gods to help then I was going to have to stop it myself. If she was the only way, I had to make her choose me. I had to make her forget everything else and choose me. That wouldn't be easy. It would be next to impossible. It would go against everything she was. But I had one thing on my side...she didn't want to go.

I flew back to the hotel and went straight to Compton's room. I knew he and Pam would be my best allies in this. They would help me to convince her that she didn't need to save everybody.

"Eric what are you doing down here? It's almost dawn." He let me in with a puff of his chest. There was still a little animosity between us but we worked well together despite that. Bill could take orders and I loved giving them to him.

"Bill I just found out what's happening and I need your help." My voice contained none of its usual authority and confidence. I was scared and he could hear that.

"What's wrong with her?" He was instantly alert and ready for action.

"She...she..." How could I explain? "She is going to kill herself." It was not exactly the truth but it was the easiest way to describe what she was about to do.

"What?" Shock and disbelief followed by suspicion. "Why?" His voice was stern and hard.

"To save the universe and stop the apocalypse." The look on his face was priceless and had it been any other time I would have enjoyed it immensely but tonight was not about enjoyment. Tonight was about answers and finding a way to save her. Bill sat down on the chair beside his coffin in a daze. I explained everything that I knew up to coming to seek his help to convince Sookie to live.

"I will help you Eric, anything for her, but you have to know we will never be successful." I saw RED. I took him by the neck and slammed him into the wall. I wanted to rip his head off him and end him once and for all. I wanted to OBLITERATE him. He was a fool and new NOTHING about my wife. He had hurt her and lost her. He was a fool.

He didn't fight me and I released him into the chair. I needed him. Fool or not my wife cared for him and he could help me persuade her that she had too much to give up.

I could feel the sunrise so I left the room without another word and headed back to my lover's arms. I closed my eyes and refused to let the last thought in my head be that Compton was right. I thought about how much I loved her.